Networked computing environments have become common features of the workplace and even the home. These environments facilitate a variety of modes of communication including electronic mail, instant messaging, multimedia document servers, discussion groups, as well as streaming audio and video, and immersive interactive sensory environments. Conventional software applications have begun to take advantage of these rich modes of communication, but each has limitations and/or disadvantages when considered from the point of view of an integrated and extensible computerized collaboration platform.
Some conventional computer software applications provide aspects of collaborative services, but fail to provide effective access to collaborators. Clumsy and/or limited access to collaborators can present barriers to collaboration initiation, preventing the use of otherwise functional collaboration tools. An aspect of ineffective access to collaborators is a failure by some conventional software applications to effectively discern current physical and/or virtual location. Another aspect is a failure by some conventional software applications to effectively discern compatibilities with respect to collaborative functionality.
Beyond deficits in functionality of particular releases of conventional software applications providing aspects of collaborative services, some conventional software applications fail to provide for an extensible collaboration platform, framework, and/or architecture. This is no minor failing. An effective architecture may last many years and be incorporated into network computing environments with millions of nodes. Failures of extensibility, flexibility, maintainability and/or scalability of an established architecture may be a much more significant problem than for a single software product release.